Audio By Vocalize Image supplied. [Courtesy] North Eastern Kenya has been silently handed a grand document with an even grander title, “A Road Map for the Transformative Development of North Eastern Kenya,” by the North Eastern Parliamentary Group, February 2025. It is polished. It is detailed. It speaks loudly about roads, livestock, water, trade, and energy. It repeats the language of marginalisation and promise. But it is also a document of silence. Wildlife does not exist in this roadmap. Not as a sector. Not as an economy. Not as a strategy. Not even as an afterthought. For a region that…
Author: By Sharmake Mohamed Sheikh
North Eastern Kenya is a land of vast horizons. Wajir covers 55,841 square kilometres, Garissa 44,175, and Mandera 25,992. These are landscapes the size of countries, not counties. They hold rich wildlife, resilient people, and great potential, yet they remain Kenya’s most neglected conservation frontier. Our priority in Northeastern is not to plant more trees that will die from lack of water. It is to protect the trees, bushlands, and habitats we already have. Our dry ecosystems are under siege. Charcoal burning, overgrazing, and unregulated cutting of acacia trees are destroying the very foundation of our pastoralist and wildlife economy. What we need now is awareness, protection, and…